Childhood adversity associations with sexual assault perpetration

Abstract

The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Questionnaire has been used increasingly in survey research to identify respondents at elevated risk of later maladjustment. The value of the ACE count in this crowdsourcing sample (N = 2,430) was contrasted with dimensional child abuse and neglect risk indicators in regard to self-reported sexual aggression. Respondents completed the Revised Sexual Experiences Survey (SES-SFP), ACE Questionnaire, and five dimensional indices of childhood neglect (Assessing Environments III), exposure to intimate partner violence (Violent Experiences Questionnaire-Revised), and sexual (Sexual Abuse & Assault Self-Report), physical (Physical Abuse Self-Report), and emotional abuse (VEQ-R). A focal question in this analysis was whether self-reported sexual aggression would be more strongly associated with specific forms of child abuse and neglect over a broader count of different ACE exposures. ACE items linked most closely to sexual aggression included sexual abuse, physical neglect, domestic violence, and family incarceration. A count of elevations (> 1 SD) on the dimensional child abuse and neglect indices provided the stronger risk indicator in the analysis. Dimensional sexual (r = .48) and physical (r = .47) abuse scores were strongly associated with sexual aggression among the men. The greatest risk of adult sexual assaultive behavior was posed by the co-occurrence of any two forms of the dimensional child abuse and neglect indicators. These results emphasized the value of traditional child abuse and neglect indices as risk indicators of sexual aggressiveness.